SpecialUS ambassador Norman Eisen looks back at his first five months in Prague

Czech-American relations are going “from good to great”, according to
the US ambassador to Prague Norman L. Eisen who will soon complete his
first five months in the Czech Republic. Mr Eisen has been working to shift
the focus from missile defence, a top priority during the era of President
George W. Bush, towards cooperation in nuclear energy, commerce and the
fight against corruption. In an interview for Radio Prague, Ambassador
Eisen looks back at some of the developments of the past five months.

Norman Eisen
“What I’ve tried to do is to be a good friend and partner to the Czech
government and all the political parties but also to the Czech people
including the NGO sector, working with the media and business, to come up
with ways that we can take the good relationship and make it great in three
areas of focus.

“One, defence and strategic. That’s why I personally went to
Afghanistan with General Picek to look at how Czech and US troops were
working together on projects and to come with new ways we work together.
That’s why the high-level defence group met here, led by US Assistant
Secretary Vershbow; that’s why we went to Washington with Czech Foreign
Minister Schwarzenberg – I personally accompanied him all over the US,
including Washington, and that’s why the Deputy Secretary of Defence Bill
Lynn is coming: because we working on ways to take the relationship from
good to great.

“Second, in the commercial and economic area, we worked very hard to
build stronger commercial ties. When I was in the US with Minister
Schwarzenberg, we signed an agreement on nuclear cooperation between Czech
universities and US institutions of higher learning. We went to Hollywood
and met with the movie studios; we went to Washington and met with the
Chamber of Commerce, so that we can have good business and good jobs in
both counties.

“And finally, the third area where we have been working very hard in the
past months is the area of good governance and the fight against
corruption. Like the first two, it’s a two-way street. I share my
expertise gained in the White House, but I also learn from the Czech people
and Czech NGOs about new ideas for sighting corruption. For example,
progress has been made on the public procurement bill. I personally have
helped train lawyers, and the embassy has worked with judges to improve
judicial and legal performance. So we have been active in a variety of
ways, so I think we are getting there, going from good to great.”

Norman Eisen, Karel Schwarzenberg, photo: Archive of the Czech GovernmentI’m sure your trip around the United States with Minister Schwarzenberg
was memorable one. At the end of it came a promise from Secretary of State
Hillary Clinton that negotiations on a new investment protection treaty
will start in September. How do you this will affect the relations,
particularly of course US investments in the Czech Republic?

“The commitment of the US to work on the bilateral investment treaty, or
BIT, is a reflection of how important the relationship with the Czech
Republic is. Obviously, this is not something that we do every day,
negotiating a new treaty when one has already been signed.

“Neither the Czech Republic not the United States wants to do anything
to discourage foreign investment. The United States is the fifth largest
foreign direct investor in the Czech Republic, and we want to see that
investment grow, not shrink. So both parties will be very careful. The
protections will be very strong as they were under the existing BIT. But it
has been a long time, and this was a top priority for the government and
because I believe the relationship is a two-way street, we heard you, this
mattered, and so we are going to reopen discussions once we establish the
parameters of the new treaty.”

If Czech officials insist indeed that the protection must be lower –
there have been complaints that the treaty granted US investors too much
protection and the Czech Republic lost several arbitrations – do you
think there is a risk it might decrease direct investment from the US?

Czech Prime Minister Petr Nečas, Norman Eisen, deputy chair of the Czech Senate Přemysl Sobotka, photo: Archive of the Czech Government
“Nobody has said to me that the protection should be lower. What we
discussed in Washington and what we always discussed is modernizing the
BIT. The original treaty was signed 20 years ago. Obviously, the Czech
Republic is at a different place than it was 20 years ago. The Sametová
revoluce [Velvet Revolution] has been a success, the country is thriving,
and so the request is that we have a modern BIT. The US thinking of the BIT
has also evolved over that time, so we going to modernize it. It will have
strong protections but we’ll have more modern protections that accord
with the desire of the Czech Republic.

“I don’t believe anybody wants to discourage any foreign investment
because that will discourage jobs. I travel all over the country, I’ve
been to 12 cities outside of Prague already since I came here, and I see
American companies operating in the country under the BIT creating
thousands of good jobs for the Czech workforce. Everyone wants that to
continue, and indeed, to grow.”

Coming back to the first area you mentioned, our cooperation in strategic
and military issues, there has been a shift in focus in the US policy since
the Bush administration when the relations were centred on the issue of
missile defence. How would you say Czech officials coped with that shift?

“There has been a shift in focus, and our approach to the focus has been
that the US and the Czech Republic are very good friends, and a friendship
should have many aspects. It should all be one issue. And we are continuing
to work with the Czech government on the new Phase Adaptive Approach. NATO
is now implementing and the Czech Republic as a key NATO allay will be part
of that conversation. But we need to have much, much more. We are looking
for a broad array of issue, in addition to missile defence where we will
continue to work with you. When a rope has many strands, that rope will not
break.”

Temelín nuclear power plantBefore you came to Prague, you were an ethics advisor to the White House,
and you came up with rules to regulate lobbying. You now work to support
the US bid in the planned Temelín extension – how does it feel being on
the other side of the barricade?

“I’m very proud, it feels good because I think I’m working
transparently – transparently – to achieve an important partnership
between the US and the Czech Republic. I feel that the point of our US
rules was that you should work in the government in the public interest,
and that is what my work does. But let me say that the work that I have
been doing with the Czech Republic on nuclear energy is not just about the
Temelín expansion. That’s important. We have a much broader civil
nuclear partnership, not unlike our military partnership.

“When I was in Texas [with the Czech foreign minister], I was present
for the signing of the agreement of our respective nuclear education
leaders to work together on education and research and development. The US
has signed a joint declaration of cooperation in nuclear energy, our
regulators cooperate, the US is working with the Czech research institute
in Řež on a variety of projects, and your top scientists came with the
Industry and Trade Ministry for a second meeting in Washington just in
April to find new ways out countries can partner.

“So I think that this very broad partnership is strongly in the shared
interest of the United States, and I’m transparent. That is my belief to
be fully transparent and I say the identical things on Czech Radio as I do
in meetings in the United States or in the Czech Republic about the
importance of our two countries working together.”

Speaking of transparency, you have supported projects and hosted events
aimed at promoting the fight against corruption in this country. Have you
seen any practical impact so far?

“I have seen practical impact. For example, the public procurement bill
– which is one of the very important issue because you need to get public
procurement right in order to make progress in the fight against corruption
– is moving through the government and I’m very encouraged by that. I
think we have been engaged in other areas – you know, for the first time
ever, whistleblowers have been recognized and awarded. We were proud to
host that event here at the US embassy. We’ve held conferences on
judicial and prosecutorial ethics integrity and training. We brought the
best and brightest people from the US to come and share expertise; just
yesterday, we had our best expert on defence procurement who was in town
giving a seminar.

“So we’ve shared a lot of technical expertise and we are starting some
results. Obviously, it’s a very long, tough struggle in both of our
countries. This is not unique to the Czech Republic but I believe that
there have been encouraging, positive developments in the past month and we
are going to keep working on it.”